The All Things Risk Podcast

The All Things Risk podcast explores the themes of risk, uncertainty and resilience as applied to sports, the arts, current affairs and just about any other domain. We feature long-form conversations with interesting guests who have loads of fascinating stories, tips and tools.

My guest is Keith Furst. Keith runs a firm called Data Derivatives, which focuses on implementing financial crime systems. He is an expert in anti-money laundering, fraud and financial abuse. However, Keith also has a background in philosophy and brings a wide-ranging and insightful perspective on the world in which we live. If you are interested in understanding the changes we are going through in finance, our economy, and in technology, I think we will enjoy and get a lot out of this episode.

Sometimes, certain iconic film scenes serve as appropriate metaphors for phenomena in real life. In this episode, we talk about the world of cryptocurrencies. In searching for the appropriate comparative movie scene, I first considered the Matrix’s red pill / blue pill scene. Depending on what you think about cryptocurrencies, you might have varying viewpoints on whether they represent the red pill – emancipation from an artificial reality or the blue pill – a blissful, yet false fantasyland.

However, in speaking to Justin Recla, my guest in this episode, it actually dawned on me that the world of cryptocurrencies most closely resembles the cantina scene from Star Wars. You might find the best fighter pilot in the galaxy, but you are more than likely to run into many of the unsavoury characters crawling around the place. This is where Justin’s work comes in.

Justin is a former counter-intelligence officer with the US Army. Following a career in the military he and his wife Tonya (also my guest in episode 62), brought those skills to the business world. As of late, Justin has focused on cryptocurrencies. Through something called Crypto Bit Verified, a service of his firm Clear Business Directory, Justin conducts due diligence and vetting on cryptocurrency opportunities.

Whatever your views on cryptocurrencies are – if you think they are the future of finance, fairy dust, or just don’t know – one thing is clear: the media attention they have attracted has brought with it all manner of scams, ineptitude and other risks that many crypto investors either don’t see or don’t want to see. Justin’s work helps people distinguish between those opportunities that have a fighting chance, from those that have none at all.

We get into all of that in this episode. Justin shares his background, talks counterintelligence and how those skills are applied to crypto due diligence and vetting, the world of cryptocurrencies, the types of frauds and scams out there, how investors can protect themselves, and much more.